


Are You Okay?

by awgaskarth0805



Category: All Time Low (Band)
Genre: Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 16:20:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21274100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awgaskarth0805/pseuds/awgaskarth0805
Summary: Alex gets food poisoning, but his band thinks it's a bigger problem.





	Are You Okay?

**Author's Note:**

> This is a request I got from a user on here. Slight trigger warning, reference to ED.

“Hey, we have almost two hours until the signing starts, should we sneak away to get some lunch?” Rian asked his band. All Time Low were in Cincinnati, and the only thing on their work agenda for the day was a two-hour signing in a record store. They obviously loved playing shows, but signings were nice to do sometimes. They were a great opportunity to interact with fans on a more personal level, and they were a nice way to break up the constant shows.  
“Sure! I think there’s a local diner not too far from here, should we go there?” Zack suggested. The other three agreed, and they walked out the back door of the venue in the direction of the restaurant.  
“I’m glad all we have today is the signing, I’m looking forward to having the night off,” Alex said.  
“Me too, since we’re driving to Chicago today, and we’ll be there for the night. You all know what that means!” Jack exclaimed, making the others laugh.  
“Yes Jack, we’ll definitely be doing some partying tonight,” Rian said back. They talked about their current tour until they got to the restaurant. When they walked inside, they were immediately seated and started looking over the menu. Shortly after, the waiter came over and took their orders.  
“That seafood pasta you got sounds like it’ll be good, Alex,” Jack said.  
“Hell yeah it will be! I think that’s my favorite meal to get on the road,” Alex replied. They continued their talk about tour until their food was brought out.  
“Enjoy boys,” the waiter said, walking away.  
“We have like twenty minutes, because we have to get to the venue thirty minutes before the signing officially starts, so eat fast,” Zack stated, looking at the time on his phone. With that, they all started to eat their lunch.  
Alex noticed that some of the fish in his pasta tasted a bit chewy but tried not to let it bother him too much. Whenever he made fish, he always made it really dry, so he just brushed off his thoughts as best he could. When they were all done, they paid their checks then started to walk back to the venue.  
On the walk back, Alex started to feel off. His stomach started to cramp up, and it caused him quite a bit of pain. He didn’t contribute much to the conversation that his friends were having, he was too focused on trying to hold himself together until they got back to the venue. He wished that he’d listened to his initial thought at the restaurant, but he knew it was too late for that now. By the time they got to the back door of the venue, Alex knew that he was going to be sick, and hoped that he’d feel better after he did.  
“I’m going to run to the bathroom, I’ll be right back,” Alex told his band, trying to sound causal about it. He quickly went into the one-person bathroom that was in the back of the store and locked the door behind him. He lifted the lid from the toilet and sat in front of it.  
At first, nothing happened, so Alex stayed sitting on the ground with his arms wrapped around his stomach. Suddenly, he started to gag, then threw up shortly after. He didn’t want his band to worry about him, especially since they were about to spend the next two hours at the signing. Due to this, Alex did what he could to be as quiet as he could so his band wouldn’t figure out what he was doing.  
Despite his efforts, the rest of the band could all hear him from outside of the bathroom door. They grew more and more concerned every time they heard Alex get sick.  
“He doesn’t sound too good in there,” Zack said to his friends.  
“I know. Do you guys think he’s sick? Like with the stomach flu or something?” Rian asked.  
“I don’t know, he’s been fine all day. Normally, we can tell when he’s sick since he’ll look all worn out, but he looked fine and seemed super energetic,” Jack pointed out.  
“What do you guys think is making him sick, then?” Rian asked both of them. They all sat in silence, thinking for a couple of minutes.  
“Wait, do you guys think he’s making himself sick?” Rian asked.  
“What do you mean?” Jack asked back.  
“I mean, I guess I can see why you’d think that. We did just eat, and he tried to act all causal about using the bathroom. Maybe he’s not happy with-“ Zack started.  
“No way, dude. Alex is my best friend, and I know that there’s no way that he’d do something like that,” Jack stated, not wanting to believe Rian and Zack’s theory.  
“Zack has a point, man. Alex has been a bit distant over the last few days, maybe he’s been dealing with insecurity and hasn’t told us. This isn’t good, if he keeps this up he could really damage his voice, and hurt himself in general,” Rian explained.  
“Jack, I know that you don’t want to think of Alex doing something like that, but he’s human, too. I think that after the signing, we should confront him on the bus on the way to Chicago. That way, we can stop this before it gets out of hand,” Zack suggested.  
“I guess that sounds like a good idea. I definitely don’t want him to continue this,” Jack replied. Seconds later, they started to hear the bathroom door being opened, so they stopped their conversation as Alex walked out of the bathroom. Alex was quick to notice how awkwardly his friends were looking at him.  
“Hey guys, um how long until the signing starts?” Alex asked, hoping to get the collective attention off of him.  
“About ten minutes,” Jack replied.  
“Oh, cool. This is going to be fun; the fans get so excited when we do signings,” Alex said, sitting down on a nearby chair. He really hoped that his band hadn’t heard him getting sick, but figured that they did, considering how weird and awkward everything was. He decided to not bring it up unless they did, he’d rather tell them after the signing so they wouldn’t helicopter over him during it.  
The four of them sat on their phones in silence until a store worker told them that they could go out on the floor. As they walked over to the table they’d be signing at, the fans cheered, making them all smile. The fans’ genuine happiness to see them would never grow old in their minds. A different store employee briefly explained how the signing would go, then people were allowed to start going up to them. Seeing all of the fans was always a wonderful experience to them. Getting to hear their stories about how their music changed lives, or how people met their best friends because of the band was always very flattering and humbling. They never thought that the small band they formed back in high school would get this far and touch the lives of so many.  
When the final person left, they all felt like they were ready to meet three hundred more people but were relieved it was over at the same time, since their hands were all tired from so much signing. Over the course of the signing, Alex’s stomach had felt much better and had eventually settled itself down to feeling normal again. They thanked the owners of the store, then walked to their bus. Alex had gone straight to the back lounge; he’d gotten a text from his mom that he wanted to reply to before his band hunted him down. Zack, Rian and Jack all got on the bus shortly after Alex.  
“Should we just go in there and talk to him?” Rian asked the other two.  
“I guess so. You should do most of the talking, Jack. He’s closer to you than us, so it’ll all probably mean more coming from you,” Zack explained.  
“I don’t see it that way, but I don’t mind doing most of the talking. I just want to make sure he’s okay,” Jack replied. With that, the three of them made their way to the back lounge. Alex sat on the corner of the wrap couch, still on his phone. His band mates all sat so they were facing him, which grabbed his attention. He looked up and saw all of them giving him concerned smiles. He slowly put his phone away, then sat up some.  
“Um, hey guys. What’s up?” Alex asked, feeling a bit weirded out.  
“Hey man, we wanted to talk to you about something,” Rian started.  
“Something important,” Zack added.  
“Okay, what is it?” Alex asked back.  
“Well, we heard you getting sick before the signing,” Jack stated.  
“Oh, I see,” Alex mumbled. He really thought that he had done a good job of being quiet earlier.  
“We’re a bit worried about you, Alex,” Rian said back.  
“Well, I appreciate it, but I’m all good,” Alex said back.  
“Alex, we know that you’re not,” Zack stated.  
“What? I just-“ Alex started.  
“Alex, we’ve noticed that you’ve been distancing yourself some lately, then you did what you did earlier,” Rian said.  
“We just want to help you, man. Insecurity sucks, but this isn’t the way to handle it,” Jack finished.  
“Woah, do you all think I was making myself get sick?” Alex asked, sounding surprised.  
“We all know that, dude,” Zack said back.  
“I didn’t do that. I got food poisoning from that pasta I had for lunch,” Alex explained.  
“Alex, you don’t have to hide the truth from us, we all know,” Rian said back.  
“Yeah, and now that we know, we want to help you,” Jack said, looking Alex in the eyes.  
“You guys are insane. I didn’t make myself throw up. My seafood tasted a bit undercooked, but I ate it anyway. I started feeling sick on the walk back to the store, which is why I puked when we got back,” Alex explained.  
“Wait, are you being serious?” Rian asked.  
“You have to swear, dude,” Jack added.  
“I swear. It was just food poisoning. I didn’t tell you guys, because I didn’t want you all to be worried about me during the signing. I guess I should’ve just told you guys, since you all came up with this theory instead,” Alex said, laughing some.  
“Well, I think we’re all glad that we were wrong, then,” Jack said back.  
“Yeah, for sure. We really thought that something was wrong,” Rian added.  
“Well, I’m just fine. I feel perfectly okay now. I only felt really bad when I was in the bathroom,” Alex said.  
“Well, that’s good, then. Sorry to jump to conclusions,” Jack said back.  
“It’s okay, guys. Honestly, I really appreciate the concern. For the record, if I ever were to have issues like that, you guys would be the first people I talked about it with. You guys really are the best,” Alex said, making all of them smile.  
“Well, it looks like we’ve got about four hours until we get to Chicago,” Zack stated.  
“Should we play some Mario Kart?” Alex suggested. They all agreed and started up the game. Even though they could be a little worrisome and ridiculous sometimes, Alex was glad to have friends who genuinely cared about him so much.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I normally don't post on Fridays, but I got a few requests, and I want to get them up in a timely manner, so you guys get an extra story this week! I'll be posting a request on Sunday, another most likely on Tuesday, then will put up my first Thanksgiving story Thursday! I enjoyed writing this one, so thanks to the user Lamegirl on here for the prompt, I hope you loved it! As always, please send requests when/if you have them, I absolutely love doing them! Lots of love, Liv.


End file.
